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I’ve recently decided to do some Social Network investigating. I’m a research freak, because I love learning new things, and when I heard how effective Social Networking sites like Twitter and Facebook can be for helping to grow your business, I decided that it was time for me to bite the bullet and dive in, head first.
What I found was interesting and also a little concerning, and I’m just being real. Whenever I want to find out about how best to use a service or product, I look to those who are apparently having lots of success with it. I saw that there were some people on twitter with tens of thousands of followers and was just amazed.
So Off I went . .
I then decided to follow one guy in particular who had over 90,000 followers (I wont mention who) and thought to myself: “This guy must know what he’s doing”. Not only that, he had a Free Report that could show me how to do the same thing and supposedly make a ton of money from my twitter following.
Well, it was free, so I decided to give it a go. I got the report and realized that most of what he 
did to grow his following was an automated process. He used a service called Twitter Hummingbird that basically automates the process of following users, in a very methodical way. I mean, it allows you to follow a ton of people in a short amount of time, and follows the twitter guidelines for what is acceptable and what isn’t.
The idea here is that by following all these people, a certain portion of the people you follow will follow you back. Not only that, but you can make it niche specific by following people who are looking for what you have to “offer”.
Sounds amazing, doesn’t it? Let me tell you, when I heard about it, I thought it was the best thing since sliced bread. I went through a few days of deliberation, because I could see how EASY it was to grow a following automatically, as easy as it gets. The main issue I had with the concept was deciding whether I wanted to grow my following in a way that seemed artificial.
At this point, I realized that a friend of mine, a fellow blogger and relatively successful internet marketer, said that he had used it the previous week to add 5000 followers in 4 days. So I went to the humminbird order page and was ready to make the purchase, but something told me to wait.
At the time that I’m writing this, I have a mere 313 followers on twitter and I started following some of them back. Then I realized that many of tweets were extremely crappy. I mean, most of them are constantly promoting some kind of making money opportunity that would supposedly make me a ton of money. Quite frankly, I got tired of it and started unfollowing people who were obviously just following me with the hopes of making money. Most of these people were following thousands more people than were following them.
Then I looked at people I knew were successful online – the ones that I trust. Their tweets were much different. It was just them being themselves, talking about their day and what’s going on in their lives. Some of it had to do with their business and some of it didn’t, but it was all interesting because they are interesting people. And these guys had a ton more people following them than they were following. Then then it hit me . . .
I’m not in social networking just to make a ton of money. I’m in social networking to network with like-minded individuals. I’m in social networking to share more of myself with others who find me interesting. I’m in social networking not to be known as the guy who is trying to sell you the house that you live in, but to provide value to whoever connects with me.
So I made my decision
I will NOT use Twitter Hummingbird or anything else of that sort. Yes, they can be a great way of getting a following, and I don’t think it’s “wrong” to use it. If you are interested in trying it out, go ahead, because it really might benefit you. However, I will go the slow route, because slow and steady wins the race.
If you are following me on twitter, it will be because you are genuinely interested in who I am, and what I have to say. If I follow you on twitter, it’s because I am interested in connecting with you as a person.
Comments
This is a hot topic right now and I want to know what you think about it. Here are some suggestions for comments:
- Do you use Hummingbird or some other automation tool for your social networking? If so, how is it working for you.
- What has been affective for you in your social networking in general?
- Any questions you might have about these automation tools or social networking in general
September 21st, 2009 at 10:39 am
You really do need to be careful what twitter tools you use. I still use a couple that I trust, but one that I used to use that was supposed to help make me money (ha ha) got my old account suspended. It is always best to do it yourself and make it 'Real”!
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September 21st, 2009 at 11:52 am
Yep, making it “Real” is what it's all about. The point of those sites is to connect with REAL people, not automated systems. While this does help manage stuff some, there are definitely some down sides.
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September 21st, 2009 at 1:08 pm
When I first started using Twitter, I was advised by others to use a few of the automated tools for growing your following. I did sign up for one, but after I did I regretted it. While I do follow most of the people who start to follow me, the only time I asked a lot of people to follow me was for the intern internet marketing class. Since that time, I only occasionally follow someone first. Rather than just interacting/networking only with like minded individuals, I suppose I see it as a way to cross paths with a diverse and interesting group of people….those who are just promoting themselves , I tend to walk on by.
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September 21st, 2009 at 3:31 pm
I don't use an automated system however I am always looking for new people to follow.
This is a really hot topic like you said. I noticed that John Chow created, promoted and used a program to captures 10s of thousands of follower and once he did he dropped virtually all of the ones he was following back. It is shady practices like that they give some bloggers a bad name. He has lost 2k followers for his unethical tactics.
So, it is definitely of benefit to find people to follow the organic way.
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September 21st, 2009 at 3:36 pm
I hear ya Linda. There are definitely different ways to look at it, and not only that . . things are constantly changing. What worked last year, doesn't necessarily work this year. Now I do follow some people first, but that's because I have a reason. I genuinely want to follow them.
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September 21st, 2009 at 3:37 pm
Yeah, I did read that post on his blog. I understand why he did what he did, so I can't really say anything negative about it. It's just not the way I want to do it.
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September 21st, 2009 at 4:30 pm
I quite agree with you. Not automating reduces the risk of having spammers and the “wrong” crowd.
It makes you look like a newbie to anyone just visiting your age though.
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September 21st, 2009 at 4:40 pm
That's very true. Actually, whenever someone follows me and I go to their page and see that they are following a ton more people than are follow them, I figure they are doing something “interesting” and I don't end up following them back.
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September 22nd, 2009 at 5:02 pm
Leslie, I agree. During our class work I added lots of people I followed and many followed me. I am now going through reducing my list as there are so many I do not relate to. I will keep those I find interesting and hopefully some will feel the same about me. If this helps my business so be it. If it does not, that is fine too. I am not looking at twitter as a main traffic tool.
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September 22nd, 2009 at 11:48 pm
Automating social network is a very nice idea for the lazy marketer… being lazy is a positive attitude nowadays because it combines strategy and effort to make a work more efficient.
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September 23rd, 2009 at 8:37 am
I hear where you are coming from, but I wouldn't say that being lazy is a “positive attitude”. I think that the Lazy Marketer is a temporary marketer. There's a difference between being lazy and being efficient.
Automating social networking is not a BAD thing as I said above, so I can definitely understand why people do it. It's just that I don't see myself doing it. At least not in that way right now.
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September 23rd, 2009 at 2:08 pm
Thanks for the advice Leslie. I read your replay to every comment I learn new in this conversation.
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October 14th, 2009 at 11:09 am
Hi Leslie ~
I just found your blog this morning when I was out doing a little “socializing”.
I totally agree with you. It would rock to have thousands of followers, but I want them to follow me because they are interested in what I have to say. When I get new followers, sometimes I will follow them back sometimes I won't.
If I find that someones tweets do not interest me, and you can tell they are using software for prescheduled tweets, I unfollow. To me that's not being social.
The communication, and the back and forth has to be present. Finding individuals that you have like interests with and the works.
Great Post! (and yes I am now following you)
Heather
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October 14th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
Hi Leslie ~
I just found your blog this morning when I was out doing a little “socializing”.
I totally agree with you. It would rock to have thousands of followers, but I want them to follow me because they are interested in what I have to say. When I get new followers, sometimes I will follow them back sometimes I won't.
If I find that someones tweets do not interest me, and you can tell they are using software for prescheduled tweets, I unfollow. To me that's not being social.
The communication, and the back and forth has to be present. Finding individuals that you have like interests with and the works.
Great Post! (and yes I am now following you)
Heather
Reply
October 14th, 2009 at 4:09 pm
Hi Leslie ~
I just found your blog this morning when I was out doing a little “socializing”.
I totally agree with you. It would rock to have thousands of followers, but I want them to follow me because they are interested in what I have to say. When I get new followers, sometimes I will follow them back sometimes I won't.
If I find that someones tweets do not interest me, and you can tell they are using software for prescheduled tweets, I unfollow. To me that's not being social.
The communication, and the back and forth has to be present. Finding individuals that you have like interests with and the works.
Great Post! (and yes I am now following you)
Heather
Reply